Liverpool are aiming to sign Villarreal centre-back Mateo Musacchio in the summer transfer window, per talkSPORT, so here is a scouting report on Musacchio, a 23-year-old Argentine international.

Bosman Eligibility Confusion

The key sentence in talkSPORT's report is "The Argentine centre-back [Musacchio] is out of contract at the end of the season and would be available on a free [transfer]." But talkSPORT published a January transfer spotlight article on Musacchio, which stated that his contract did not expire until 2018.

Villarreal president Fernando Roig revealed Musacchio would stay at the club for an additional four years.

"Musacchio has a contract until 2018," Roig said, per Francisco Acedo at Sky Sports. "If he is wanted, then for Villarreal it is fine, but only if the money is paid up front."

There is enough doubt to approach Roig's claim with scepticism, as the Villarreal website (English and Spanish) does not have a single press release announcing Musacchio extending his contract until 2018.

Then, James Pearce at the Liverpool Echo clarified the situation: "The Echo understands that reports in Spain that Suarez has a £40 million buy-out clause in his contract are incorrect."

Two months after Suarez contractually committed his long-term future to Liverpool, per Liverpool's official website, Henry revealed he had bluffed his way through Arsenal's pursuit of Suarez.

"Arsenal offered £40 million and one pound for him [Suarez] and triggered his buy-out clause," Henry said, per BBC Sport. "These contracts don't seem to hold [so] we took the position we're just not selling."

Why would Roig need to lie? He could be buying time like Henry.

Or Roig isn't being insincere and Musacchio has pledged his future toVillarreal management in word only, per a tweet by Bleacher Report La Liga featured columnist Tre Atkinson:

If Musacchio cannot exercise his Bosman rights and a club does not sign him on a free transfer in the upcoming summer window, that would be a game changer.

That would hinder Liverpool's chances of signing him. But why are the Reds interested in him anyway?

Positives

Musacchio, who is 6'0" (the same height as Paris Saint-Germain's Thiago Silva), might not have the 6'3" height of a prototypical centre-back, but he compensates with athleticism, controlled aggression and an intuitive ability in winning back the ball.

One play summed up who Musacchio is when Valencia centre-back Jeremy Mathieu had a clear look and thought he was about to test Villarreal goalkeeper Sergio Asenjo.

Musacchio has made more tackles (65) than Skrtel (35) and Agger (21) combined (56).

In terms of interceptions, there is no comparison. Even if you doubled Skrtel's interceptions per game, the number is still lower than Musacchio's (3.5).

Musacchio is a natural interceptor, having cut off seven passes in a 2-2 draw against Real Madrid, per Squawka.

Source: Squawka.com

Since 2014, Musacchio has accumulated 30 interceptions, per Squawka.com, which equals Agger's and Toure's output this entire season combined.

Source: Squawka.com

Despite being such an assertive, up-tempo and proactive defender, Musacchio concedes only one free-kick per game and has picked up two yellow cards in league play so far, proving how in control of his tackling he is.

Musacchio lines up as a right-sided centre-back, so, in theory, he will be pushing Martin Skrtel, who has scored three own goals this season, for a starting position.